Monthly Archives: March 2015

IRVINE, Calif. When student government representatives at the University of California, Irvine voted to ban all flags including the American one from their tiny office, they thought they had found a solution to a battle over freedom of speech that began when someone first tacked a U.S. flag to the wall in January. The flag had been at the center of an increasingly bitter game of cat-and-mouse, with some students taking it down repeatedly and others replacing it in the dark of night.

Last week, six student legislative council members passed a resolution banning all flags from their office space, saying the U.S. flag could be viewed as hate speech because some consider it a symbol of colonialism and imperialism. The executive cabinet of the Associated Students organization vetoed the legislation two days later but it was too late.

The vote prompted a furor: Taxpayers protested on the campus plaza, the school was bombarded with angry comments on its social media sites and one state lawmaker proposed a constitutional amendment that would prohibit state-funded colleges and universities from banning the U.S. flag on campus. On Thursday, student government meetings were canceled for the second day in a row because of an unspecified threat.

The debate resonated on the ethnically and religiously diverse suburban campus south of Los Angeles, where tensions over freedom of speech have taken the national stage several times before. For years, Jewish students and members of the Muslim Student Union have sparred in a dispute that came to a head in 2011, when 10 Muslim students were arrested and prosecuted for disrupting a speech by Israeli ambassador Michael Oren. In 2007, federal civil rights investigators looked into complaints of anti-Semitic speeches given at the university by invited Muslim speakers, but they found the comments were directed as Israeli policies, not Jewish students.

"It's the nature of young minds questioning and activism at a young age. I think people notice it at UCI more because they think, 'Oh, that's the quiet conservative campus in the middle of Orange County.' But the reality is the students are from all over the place and they're testing out their ideas just like they are at any other campus," said Cathy Lawhon, university spokeswoman. About 14 percent of the university's nearly 30,000 students are from other countries.

The tension between Muslim and Jewish undergraduates has calmed recently, and President Barack Obama gave the university commencement speech last spring. So current students said they were dismayed to be in the national spotlight again on freedom of speech issues.

Daniel Kellogg, a fourth-year cognitive sciences major, wore a muscle shirt emblazoned with the American flag as he walked across campus to drop off a term paper. The attention was unsettling, he said, particularly since UC Irvine was being portrayed nationally as a hotbed of anti-American fervor because of the actions of six students.

"We have a lot of international students, and I could see how somebody could possibly be uncomfortable by a gigantic flag in the middle of the common area. But at the same time, this is the United States, and they should just get used to that," Kellogg said.

Meeting minutes show legislative council members grappled with whose rights were more important as they voted: those offended by the flag or those who were offended by its removal. One council member noted that an anonymous letter that criticized the flag was free speech but taking it down was impinging on the free speech of others who wanted it left up.

Associated Students President Reza Zomorrodian did not respond to emails nor did any of the legislative council members involved in the vote or the resolution's author. But in a statement earlier this week, three of the six students who passed the resolution said that they were grateful to be "privileged enough to even have these kinds of conversations" and said they had meant to create a "safe, inclusive space" for all students.

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Move to ban US flag at California university sparks uproar, free speech-vs.-hate speech debate

What a sad statement to have to hear that the UC Irvine student government considered removing the American flag from their lobby. As a vet, I fully support freedom of speech, but that freedom always comes at a cost. Our soldiers and nation deserve more than some student body making a mockery of the flag and the blood, sweat and the loss of life expended making sure that these freedoms exist, not to mention ensuring the flag that represents this nation flies or is displayed where people want it to be.

People come from around the world to this nation because it offers a quality of life and a quality of people without exception. It is rare that people come because their countries are so much better than ours. Is it that hard to show respect for what this nation does for people immigrating here?

Regarding freedom of speech, Id like to make this point: Soldiers lay down their lives for the flag, so maybe the university student body can stop accepting federal grants.

We are a great nation. Maybe a little respect for the flag for which it stands would not be too much to ask.

John Friske

Menifee

Liberals not to blame

After reading John W. Burns Liberals dragging down California [Letters, March 9], Ive come to the conclusion that he may need some assistance.

Burns complains that progressive liberals are dragging down the state. Perhaps he would feel better living in a state where folks share his conservative views. States like Mississippi, Louisiana, West Virginia or Alabama might be just right.

Never mind the fact that these states have some of the lowest levels of education and some of the most severe problems with their infrastructure, as well as some of the worst living conditions in the country.

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LETTERS: Disrespecting our veterans' sacrifices